Adolph wurzburger



Patented Apr. Il, |899.

A. WURZBUHGEH.v

F E AT H E FI.

:Application led Aug. 25, 1898.]

(ND Model) WITNESSES:

SQ d

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADoLPn WURZBURGER, or NEW YORK, Nj Y.

FEATHER.

'SPECIFCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 622,835, dated April 11 1899.

4 Application filed August 25, 1898. Serial No. 689,460. (No model.) I

To @ZZ whom, t may concern:

. showing its construction, the section being Be it known that 1 ADOLPH WURZBURGER, a resident of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements ,in Feathers, of which the following is.a specification.

My invention relates to feathers, and has for its object to so improve a natural feather as to impart to it elasticity and life It is well known that feathers are more or less rigid and inflexible and apt to break under strain. rIhese faults of feathers are great drawbacks to their free use as millinery, both because they render the feathers fragile and because the said feathers are more or less stiff and ungraceful, lacking the graceful resiliency which should be their chief perfection. By my invention I produce a feather from which these faults are absent,which possesses resiliency and elasticity to a remarkable degree,and which is practically unbreakable in use.

In the accompanyingdrawingsIhave shown a feather embodying my invention.

In the drawings, Figure l shows a feather of the cocks-plume type, embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section thereof,

taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view showing a short length of the feather. Fig. 4 is a section showing the central rib ofa feather as it exists in its natural state. Fig. 5 is a section of the same rib when it exist-s in a feather embodying my invention; and Fig. Gis a detail view of the rib, showing the preferred mode of stitching.

In the drawings, ais the central rib of the feather from which the individual plumes b project. This central rib a is more or less rigid upon its rear side a' and the feather is in consequence comparatively rigid, although it has a slight elasticity. Such elasticity, which arises from the resiliency of the rib a, is nullified by the pith in the elastic rear portion ai. In order to deprive the feather of such stiffness, I cut away this rear portion a', as will be seen in Fig. 5, and supplement the said feather by a highly elastic and resilient structure, comprising a rib or ribs c of featherbone, each preferably consisting of a-number of strands of the resilient portion of a feather assembled together and held in placeby a woven fabric d, the whole constituting a'resilient backingstrip, which is secured to rib a by means of stitches, which stitches are preferably arranged as shown in Fig. 6, wherein the threads e are shown as passing through the rib d and the backingstrip, thence embracing the two structures by a loop e', and thence running along the face of the backing-strip for a short distance, where it again passes through the said two structures and embraces theln in a loop e.- At the lower end of the plume portion of the feather the backing-strip may be firmly se'- cured to the quill a2 in any suitable manner, preferably by strongly wrapping the quill at the end of the backing-strip with a serving f.

It will be observed that I have cutaway from the rib of the feather the pithy irresilient portion d" and have left only the more resilient portion at and have backed the said rib with a resilient strip consisting of the resilient portion of another featherinclosed in the textile fabric. It will be obvious that by thus constructing a feather I obtain all the resiliency and life possible and greatly improve upon the natural feather, which by reason of the pithy irresilient portion a is devoid of life and elasticity.

I am aware that attempts have been made to combine feathers with metallic structures and with whalebone; but such structures are wholly lacking in life. While they may have a certain resiliency,` that resiliency is characteristic of metal and whalebone, whereas in my feather the resiliency is characteristic of the feather, and there is considerable dier ence, as I have discovered, between the charact'eristic resiliency of featherbone and the characteristic resiliency of metal and whalebone, such a difference, indeed, that metal or whalebone would deprive the resilient portion d of the rib of the feather of its characteristic resiliency, whereas featherbone, by

reason of its greater and peculiarly constituted resiliency, supplements the resiliency of the resilient portion ct of the feather and produces a very perfect structure.

I-Iaving described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, lsf- IOO In a feather for miliinery purposes,the com- A bination With the plumes of a rib CL devoid-of the pthy irresilient portion Co' and supplemented by a backing of featherbone of su'b- Y stantially the same characteristic resiliency as the resilient portion o1I front of the featherrib a, the said backing being secured to the said rib a, substantially as described and for the purposes set forth.

` ADOLPH WURZBURGER. Witnesses:

AMAURICE BLOCK, J. F. .WYNKOOR 

